


a concert for a crowd of curious caterpillars

by seaslughug (nitws)



Series: moomin stories [1]
Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: Caterpillars, Gen, Sea Shanties, short mentions of moomintroll and the joxter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21638134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitws/pseuds/seaslughug
Summary: Tentatively, Snufkin continued his shanty, and suddenly found himself surrounded by an audience of softly glowing caterpillars.
Series: moomin stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559764
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	a concert for a crowd of curious caterpillars

It was on a fall venture into the forest that Snufkin gave perhaps the strangest concert he ever had.

He had been aimlessly traipsing the forest one particularly pleasant evening, absentmindedly practicing the sea shanty his father had taught him last summer on his squeezebox while smoking his pipe, waltzing around hickory trees and families of small white flowers that dotted the landscape and thrived well into autumn. It was a bit tricky to play as well as walk, and the falls wind grew colder as the night went on, but he found comfort wandering about under the light of the moon.

After a good while of walking, a blue glow from the corner of his eye snapped him out of his content daze. He blinked, unsure if his eyes were playing tricks on him; he could still see the glow, emitting from a clearing only a few footsteps away. With soft footsteps and without a clue as to what could have caused this peculiar glow, he made his way to the source of light, ceasing to play his tune to instead peer through the cluster of cornflowers that functioned as a curtain between him and the clearing. As he placed a hesitant foot forward, he noticed with bewilderment that the glowing had ceased!

Whoever or whatever drew him here couldn’t have just vanished, surely. It was too dark to make out much of anything in the clearing. Snufkin figured that perhaps what resided in it was simply shy and he’d caused a racket and scared them off, or maybe his eyes really had played tricks on him.

Finally, unsure if he were speaking to anything at all, Snufkin called out, "Hullo there."

He was met with only the familiar, gentle hum of the autumn winds and the faint shuffling of leaves finding one another in the quiet night. Suddenly feeling a bit silly and unsure of himself, he blinked and looked down at his squeezebox. It was then a theory slowly formed in his mind. Tentatively, he continued his shanty, and suddenly found himself surrounded by an audience of softly glowing caterpillars.

His fuzzy audience swayed to the melody like the leaves in the trees overhead as he processed what was happening. They wanted to hear him play! Who was he to deny them a good tune or two? He sat down on a nearby log, keeping up the melody for the fuzzy strangers that sought out his maritime tune. Setting down his pipe, he began to hum softly, hesitant to sing, feeling in some sort of ineffable yet definite way that his voice would be an intrusion in the company he shared of the hushed, illuminated assembly in the lown night.

He transitioned smoothly from song to song; he gradually found himself singing the words his father had taught him, his voice low and harmonious as he found himself now immersed with the rhythm of the night, the bellows of his accordion expanding and contracting as he swayed alongside the band of caterpillars. Their blue-tinted gleam contrasted against the crisp, darkened colors of fall, and they were accompanied in their light only by the ever-glowing moon hung in the sky. They seemed to radiate a gentle, enveloping warmth as they wiggled, a well-lit lantern or campfire amidst the evening temperature he found to be particularly soothing.

Snufkin's last song finally came to a close, his voice gradually fading into the winds hum. For a long moment, there was no reaction from his audience; then, the group of caterpillars erupted into a joyous, warm song, wiggling to express their praise and enjoyment of his performance. Snufkin then noticed the glowing tufts of fuzz they shed as they danced and shimmied, finding them reminiscent of dandelion seeds strewn about after being wished upon as the illuminated tuffets were carried away by the breeze. He smiled and stood up as he watched them glimmer for him, glistening in a slightly wavering and pulsating manner, and he bowed slightly. "Thank you, thank you."

He stood watching as the fuzzy group slowly waned back into the murmur of the tenebrous night. And then, with that, he found himself alone in the clearing once again, with no trace of the bizarre encounter left in sight; he blinked at the pale cream light of moon peering through the hickory leaves overhead, feeling an inarticulable and soothing harmony with the forest, lulled into a state of tranquility by the comforting murmur of the evening's breeze that rustled bushes of poppies and stalks of yarrow.

The warmth of his fuzzy company of the night lingered still, and he leaned back against the log, settling on the ground as he retrieved his pipe, his warm hands brushing the cool blanket of grass beneath him. Setting his accordion aside, he closed his eyes, puffing a ring of smoke. He let his mind wander in a sleepy, content daze, lazing in the now still night. He imagined his father's reaction to his story of giving an accidental concert for unfamiliar, glowing caterpillars, playing shanties he had once sung at sea himself when he was his age, and couldn’t help but smirk. He pictured Moomintroll's reaction upon his return - the enthusiastic flickering of his ears, azure eyes widening with wonder and curiosity, ever enthralled by his tales - and felt his smile grow.

"Moomintroll is going to _love_ this."

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked this!! its a silly little story in a series of similarly silly moomin stories i hope to post.. (one about snufkin and the joxter, and one about snufkin taking moomintroll to see the caterpillars!)  
> if you see any grammatical errors please feel free to let me know!!


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